26 Jun 2021 | Professional golf |
Resurgent Day leads Travelers
by Martin Blake
Jason Day bounced back from his recent back injuries with a brilliant 62 at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut today to give himself a chance of his first win in three years on the tour.
Day, who withdrew from the Memorial Tournament because of his chronic back injury recently, then missed his first US Open in 11 years, was on song with the putter at TPC River Highlands.
At nine under he has the outright lead, despite feeling "stiff" in the back.
The 33-year-old Australian jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a five-metre birdie putt at the par-four seventh hole, then made good saves for par at the eighth and ninth. He had eight birdies for the day and went bogey-free.
"Well, I mean, sometimes when you do have sort of an injury or stiffness, even if you're sick, sometimes you can come out and play some good golf ," he said.
"I was fortunate enough to not really get in my own way today. Hit a lot of good quality drives and my tee to green was pretty solid, I thought. Then holed a lot of crucial putts out there."
The most recent of the Queenslander's 12 PGA Tour wins was the Wells Fargo Championship in May, 2018.
"It's sore to get onto the other side of the golf swing, so any time going left was a little bit sore," he said of his physical condition. "It is what it is. I haven't had time to really rest it since I kind of put it out. I think having a couple weeks off was great, but you just need a little bit more time is what it is."
At five under par, Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman are also in the mix at that event.
GRACE Kim has made the most of her first start on the Symetra Tour, and she is in contention after carding an opening-round 68 at the Prasco Charity Championship in Cincinatti, Ohio. THE Australians dropped off the pace on the second day of the BMW International in Munich on the European Tour. Min Woo Lee and Maverick Antcliff are tied-27th at five under par, but first round leader Wade Ormsby slid back to four under par after his opening 65.
Travelers Championship leaderboard